Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2011 Enzo F. Cesario
Most writers will experience at least some form of writer's block in the course of their efforts. It takes different forms for various people, as evidenced by the many expressions used to explain it.
"I don't have any ideas."
"Everything I write sounds stupid."
"I just can't get motivated."
At the root of it, most writer's block comes from fear or at least from uncertainty. Writing is like any other art - the writer must create something that will go out before the public for examination. This is a personal process, and carries with it the risk of rejection. Any artist can understand the fear of being mocked for his or her hard work, and it's equally understandable that this would intimidate some people into hesitating when the time comes to write.
Before going much further, it must be said that there is no cure for writer's block â€" those who suffer it push through to the other side with sheer willpower. The writer must exercise his or her judgment and forge ahead. Be that as it may, there are a number of techniques that can help rally a writer's determination in order to bring them forward through the wall of fear and into the realm of joyful writing.
Technique #1 - Stand on Giants' Shoulders
One of the most common instances of writer's block comes when writing on a subject that many people have covered before. The fear is that there is nothing new to contribute to the matter, that anything additional would seem superfluous.
One technique, popularized in the movie Finding Forrester, is to search out similar writings on the subject by other authors. When a writer finds a piece they particularly like, they borrow a line or two from the author, and try to write further material from there. Once they hit their stride, they move on and produce an article entirely their own.
Note that last proviso in the technique â€" this is not permission to plagiarize. The original author's contribution is simply to provide a starting point to the creative process, not to add anything to the final article. Once the process begins, the author must write his own work and not use anything from the original article unless he is willing to include it as a sourced quotation.
Technique #2 - Write in Bursts
Sometimes the psychological effects of writer's block feel like a weight. Sitting down and writing becomes burdensome and exhausting, and wears the writer out as surely as heavy exercise.
In these cases, it can be counterproductive to try and write everything at once. Instead, the writer should sit down and try to write to a certain goal, say 200 words. If she hits her goal, she should try and keep writing. If she cannot reach it or takes unusually long to do so, she should stop for five minutes and do something else. Listen to music, eat a tasty snack or read something enlightening â€" then try again. These repeated small attacks on the subject will help wear it down without it seeming quite so massive.
Technique #3 - Shut Down the Editor
An in-process version of writer's block was explained by Chris Baty, the creator of the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Baty argues that many writers sabotage their productivity by constantly self-editing and self-criticizing as they work, spending more time correcting what's already been put down than putting out new copy.
The idea Baty suggests is to turn off this inner editor and write constantly without correction. The article will still be there when the writer finishes, so it can be corrected at the end rather than throughout the process. This allows writers to focus on the primary effort of creating their work rather than getting distracted.
Technique #4 - Write Backward
Another symptom of writer's block is feeling that writing has become routine and less enjoyable than it used to be. The process is always the same, and has become predictable and stagnant. The solution is to change the order of how one approaches things.
Instead of working from the introduction, through the body and to a conclusion, the writer should work on the conclusion first. Write up a spot-on end topic to the piece, then fill in the rest accordingly. A story writer could begin with the ending chapter, and then write the rest out of order in a Tarantino-style kind of time-play. Whatever specific way it's done, the idea is to approach writing from a different direction in order to awaken its enjoyment factor anew.
Technique #5 - Don't Write, Speak
A lot of focus has been made lately on the technique of writing the way one speaks. Instead of dividing the mind between writing and speaking, one simply writes AS one speaks, getting the material down in a more authentic way. This may not always be appropriate, but it's rarely completely out of place.
The idea is to avoid complicated sentences that reference back to parenthetical clauses and other assorted specialized writing hang-ups. The focus changes to short and direct language, with a clear message and point to each line.
This doesn't mean to include every verbatim tic of a writer's speaking style. "Ums" and "ahs" must, of course, be excised, since they don't add anything to the subject.
In short, writer's block doesn't have to be terrifying. There's always a way around it, and with a little force of will any writer can see that it isn't a brick wall so much as a cloth sewn to look like one.
About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit http://www.iBrandCasting.com/
Read more of Enzo F. Cesario's articles.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Once More, With Feeling: Producing Consistent, Quality Blog Content
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2011 Enzo F. Cesario
Quality is a key element in good blogging. If the material isn't interesting, it isn't going to be read. Of course, there are different standards of what is interesting. Some people find the day-to-day tweets of a celebrity interesting, while others can't get worked up about anything other than a discussion over literature that more closely resembles a bare-knuckle brawl than academic discourse.
The celebrity effect can be discounted — it isn't necessarily that Lady Gaga or Stephen Fry's tweets are composed in a particular way. It's the careers these stars have had and the interest in what such a career celebrity is saying that draws the people. Since most writers (and in particular most bloggers) are not cult celebrities, the focus on quality content is a safe focus to assume.
But what is it that makes content quality? How does one get those good ideas and, more importantly, convey them week after week with a steady updating schedule?
Worth Arguing Over
A good idea is one people can take sides on. Talk radio is based on this premise, as is the modern media system. Controversy sells brands like nothing else in this world. Rockstar Games doesn't mind that parenting organizations despise its popular Grand Theft Auto series — the controversy generated by people arguing over the merits of the game is free advertising, release after release.
So pick ideas that people can have an argument, or at least a spirited discussion, over. This involves including concrete details whenever possible. Don't argue over "Obama's healthcare plan;" rather, pick a specific portion of the plan and state why you are for or against it, with supporting reasoning. Then, encourage the discussion. Respond to those who disagree with you. Promote and highlight arguments over key points. Cater to peoples' innate need to share their views.
Watch Videos, Share Videos
Embedding videos from assorted hosting sites is absolutely no work at all. Most video places include blog-embedding code so people can do this very thing, and there's no reason at all not to do so.
Providing a good video is a mental shortcut that can help foster high quality content. If someone makes an insightful video on a topic, including it can provide good discussion and your actual blog entry can be an overview of the thoughts the video brings up. Alternatively, this is a good way to find someone with faulty ideas and provide a correction to their premises, again point by point. Entire blogs and video blogs have been made on the concept of lampooning or correcting the fallacies in other videos, so by no means should you ignore this potential feeding ground.
Participate in Other Blogs
Your blog should have a list of other blogs you visit, and you should be an active commenter on those blogs under your own name. This is free advertising, particularly if you include a link to your blog in your username. This is a common practice, and isn't spam. However, mentioning your blog and shoehorning it into every little conversation even if the topic under discussion is not on your blog at all IS spam, and will be received poorly.
And other blogs are great places to find ideas, particularly if these blogs are full of great discussion and content. Someone might share a good idea that you can bring over to your blog and write your thoughts about (of course including a link back to the original blog). A writer might say something you particularly agree with or vehemently oppose, but either way, if it gets you thinking, you now have something to blog about.
Resist the Urge to Navel Gaze
Some blogs take a turn for the surreal and super insightful. Sometimes this works, but often it does not. In his posthumously-published autobiography, comedian George Carlin discussed how his career went from performing at high-class clubs with playful character comedy to a bizarre retro-hippy style in which he discussed topics as banal as belly button lint. He described the latter period as one of the worst in his career, where people had essentially designated him as a historical curiosity to be forgotten.
This isn't to say a blog should ignore topics of interest to the blogger. If you aren't interested in your work, it will show and the content will suffer. However, it is an admonition to pay attention to your audience. Think about where the idea came from. If the idea is genuinely your own, then do feel free to test it out. However, don't ignore the reaction — if the interest is not there, chalk it up as an experiment and move on. If the audience does latch on, feel free to run with it.
Ideas that come from outside sources often are more interesting to work with. Your own material is important, but connect it to thoughts and concepts others are sharing. In short, build that bridge between your thoughts and theirs, rather than trying to bury them in your own disconnected speculations.
About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit http://www.iBrandCasting.com/
Read more Articles written by Enzo F. Cesario.
Copyright © 2011 Enzo F. Cesario
Quality is a key element in good blogging. If the material isn't interesting, it isn't going to be read. Of course, there are different standards of what is interesting. Some people find the day-to-day tweets of a celebrity interesting, while others can't get worked up about anything other than a discussion over literature that more closely resembles a bare-knuckle brawl than academic discourse.
The celebrity effect can be discounted — it isn't necessarily that Lady Gaga or Stephen Fry's tweets are composed in a particular way. It's the careers these stars have had and the interest in what such a career celebrity is saying that draws the people. Since most writers (and in particular most bloggers) are not cult celebrities, the focus on quality content is a safe focus to assume.
But what is it that makes content quality? How does one get those good ideas and, more importantly, convey them week after week with a steady updating schedule?
Worth Arguing Over
A good idea is one people can take sides on. Talk radio is based on this premise, as is the modern media system. Controversy sells brands like nothing else in this world. Rockstar Games doesn't mind that parenting organizations despise its popular Grand Theft Auto series — the controversy generated by people arguing over the merits of the game is free advertising, release after release.
So pick ideas that people can have an argument, or at least a spirited discussion, over. This involves including concrete details whenever possible. Don't argue over "Obama's healthcare plan;" rather, pick a specific portion of the plan and state why you are for or against it, with supporting reasoning. Then, encourage the discussion. Respond to those who disagree with you. Promote and highlight arguments over key points. Cater to peoples' innate need to share their views.
Watch Videos, Share Videos
Embedding videos from assorted hosting sites is absolutely no work at all. Most video places include blog-embedding code so people can do this very thing, and there's no reason at all not to do so.
Providing a good video is a mental shortcut that can help foster high quality content. If someone makes an insightful video on a topic, including it can provide good discussion and your actual blog entry can be an overview of the thoughts the video brings up. Alternatively, this is a good way to find someone with faulty ideas and provide a correction to their premises, again point by point. Entire blogs and video blogs have been made on the concept of lampooning or correcting the fallacies in other videos, so by no means should you ignore this potential feeding ground.
Participate in Other Blogs
Your blog should have a list of other blogs you visit, and you should be an active commenter on those blogs under your own name. This is free advertising, particularly if you include a link to your blog in your username. This is a common practice, and isn't spam. However, mentioning your blog and shoehorning it into every little conversation even if the topic under discussion is not on your blog at all IS spam, and will be received poorly.
And other blogs are great places to find ideas, particularly if these blogs are full of great discussion and content. Someone might share a good idea that you can bring over to your blog and write your thoughts about (of course including a link back to the original blog). A writer might say something you particularly agree with or vehemently oppose, but either way, if it gets you thinking, you now have something to blog about.
Resist the Urge to Navel Gaze
Some blogs take a turn for the surreal and super insightful. Sometimes this works, but often it does not. In his posthumously-published autobiography, comedian George Carlin discussed how his career went from performing at high-class clubs with playful character comedy to a bizarre retro-hippy style in which he discussed topics as banal as belly button lint. He described the latter period as one of the worst in his career, where people had essentially designated him as a historical curiosity to be forgotten.
This isn't to say a blog should ignore topics of interest to the blogger. If you aren't interested in your work, it will show and the content will suffer. However, it is an admonition to pay attention to your audience. Think about where the idea came from. If the idea is genuinely your own, then do feel free to test it out. However, don't ignore the reaction — if the interest is not there, chalk it up as an experiment and move on. If the audience does latch on, feel free to run with it.
Ideas that come from outside sources often are more interesting to work with. Your own material is important, but connect it to thoughts and concepts others are sharing. In short, build that bridge between your thoughts and theirs, rather than trying to bury them in your own disconnected speculations.
About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit http://www.iBrandCasting.com/
Read more Articles written by Enzo F. Cesario.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Yes You Can Judge a Book By Its Cover: Blog Design Considerations
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2011 Enzo F. Cesario
Many of us have an almost childlike desire to have ideas judged on their own merits rather than on their presentation. We imagine it would be nice if every idea could be heard out for the validity of its claims instead of judged by the merits or flaws of the messenger. But in practice, none of us actually believes this. When is the last time you actually appreciated the look of a spinning .gif? Has Comic Sans font actually ever made you stop and look more closely at an article? Can you honestly say that a mingled mash of very bright colors doesn't put you off of a website?
All right, so these are perhaps extreme examples, but they do illustrate the point that appearance is still considered important. And not all examples are so cut and dried; sometimes the text is just too small and poorly-spaced to read properly, the lack of pictures makes a site too text-dense, the color tone is just subtly off in a way that looks unpleasant and drives off potential readers or all the images and videos are on the front page, making it take excessively long to load.
Paying attention to appearance and to some basic web and blog design elements can make the visit to your blog more enjoyable for your audience and help you retain those vital traffic numbers.
First, the Background
The website your blog is on should adhere to some basic web design principles. After all, you don't want people to click away from an unappealing site before they get to your life-changing content, do you?
First, pick a reasonable color scheme. Sharply contrasting tones are a good start. Black text on a white background is highly visible, if a bit dull, and can be seen as a reliable standby. Background colors should be in shades complimentary to the primary tones. Consider the default settings of the WordPress site, for example. The primary fields are white, with other colors in grays and pale blues that compliment the overall look but still subtly convey a sense of where everything is. Important functions such as social media sharing tabs, links and scroll bars are in more vivid blues to easily set them apart.
Keep special touches to a minimum. Simple effects are nice, such as a straightforward and brief fade-in for your text. If, on the other hand, every single word has to fly in letter by letter with a cute sound effect, you may lose some audiences to impatience. If you must include effects, make them simple and integrated rather than attention grabbing. Also, keep sizes reasonably large for ease of sight, but not so big they would require a lot of scrolling on the average notebook computer.
Blog Design, Front and Center
There are many ways to organize the content of a blog, but, as always, using a few best principles will help you get the most out of your content.
First, remember that the goal of the blog is to convey information. It cannot do that buried in back pages, so whether your blog is the whole site or a part of a larger site, pertinent information must be on the front page, prominently displayed. The headlines should be links into the body of the articles, and of a size that makes them easy to pay attention to without overwhelming the page with absurdly large text.
One key is to make liberal use of the "more" function. Also called a jumpcut, this is essentially a trick similar to the way news shows keep peoples' attention throughout the broadcast. The front page of the site should have a number of very small posts, consisting of the blog headline, a few lines or a paragraph of introductory text, and then a tab that says "more," "keep reading" or something of that nature. The rest of the article content is accessed behind this link.
The jumpcut is a good tool because it allows you to show a great deal of content that is easy to browse. Use the newspaper-writing trick of getting a short summary of your article out in front of people so they can quickly decide which articles to follow. Putting the whole article on the front page stretches it out needlessly and makes it harder to scroll through and select articles of quality, particularly for new readers coming to your blog after it's been around a while.
Finally, make sure it's easy to navigate your blog content. Each blog should be tagged by content, and there must be a panel to navigate articles by tags. These tags are a great place to integrate SEO keywords, by the way — choose tags that are trending high in adwords if you can. There should be a best-of panel showing favorite or highly popular blog posts as well as a search function.
As ever, engage in good linking practices as well, with links to other blogs that are relevant to the content you provide, prominently-displayed but not particularly large. Keep it to five or six links you feel are particularly relevant, with a short summary on each.
About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit http://www.iBrandCasting.com/
Read more of Enzo F. Cesario's articles.
Copyright © 2011 Enzo F. Cesario
Many of us have an almost childlike desire to have ideas judged on their own merits rather than on their presentation. We imagine it would be nice if every idea could be heard out for the validity of its claims instead of judged by the merits or flaws of the messenger. But in practice, none of us actually believes this. When is the last time you actually appreciated the look of a spinning .gif? Has Comic Sans font actually ever made you stop and look more closely at an article? Can you honestly say that a mingled mash of very bright colors doesn't put you off of a website?
All right, so these are perhaps extreme examples, but they do illustrate the point that appearance is still considered important. And not all examples are so cut and dried; sometimes the text is just too small and poorly-spaced to read properly, the lack of pictures makes a site too text-dense, the color tone is just subtly off in a way that looks unpleasant and drives off potential readers or all the images and videos are on the front page, making it take excessively long to load.
Paying attention to appearance and to some basic web and blog design elements can make the visit to your blog more enjoyable for your audience and help you retain those vital traffic numbers.
First, the Background
The website your blog is on should adhere to some basic web design principles. After all, you don't want people to click away from an unappealing site before they get to your life-changing content, do you?
First, pick a reasonable color scheme. Sharply contrasting tones are a good start. Black text on a white background is highly visible, if a bit dull, and can be seen as a reliable standby. Background colors should be in shades complimentary to the primary tones. Consider the default settings of the WordPress site, for example. The primary fields are white, with other colors in grays and pale blues that compliment the overall look but still subtly convey a sense of where everything is. Important functions such as social media sharing tabs, links and scroll bars are in more vivid blues to easily set them apart.
Keep special touches to a minimum. Simple effects are nice, such as a straightforward and brief fade-in for your text. If, on the other hand, every single word has to fly in letter by letter with a cute sound effect, you may lose some audiences to impatience. If you must include effects, make them simple and integrated rather than attention grabbing. Also, keep sizes reasonably large for ease of sight, but not so big they would require a lot of scrolling on the average notebook computer.
Blog Design, Front and Center
There are many ways to organize the content of a blog, but, as always, using a few best principles will help you get the most out of your content.
First, remember that the goal of the blog is to convey information. It cannot do that buried in back pages, so whether your blog is the whole site or a part of a larger site, pertinent information must be on the front page, prominently displayed. The headlines should be links into the body of the articles, and of a size that makes them easy to pay attention to without overwhelming the page with absurdly large text.
One key is to make liberal use of the "more" function. Also called a jumpcut, this is essentially a trick similar to the way news shows keep peoples' attention throughout the broadcast. The front page of the site should have a number of very small posts, consisting of the blog headline, a few lines or a paragraph of introductory text, and then a tab that says "more," "keep reading" or something of that nature. The rest of the article content is accessed behind this link.
The jumpcut is a good tool because it allows you to show a great deal of content that is easy to browse. Use the newspaper-writing trick of getting a short summary of your article out in front of people so they can quickly decide which articles to follow. Putting the whole article on the front page stretches it out needlessly and makes it harder to scroll through and select articles of quality, particularly for new readers coming to your blog after it's been around a while.
Finally, make sure it's easy to navigate your blog content. Each blog should be tagged by content, and there must be a panel to navigate articles by tags. These tags are a great place to integrate SEO keywords, by the way — choose tags that are trending high in adwords if you can. There should be a best-of panel showing favorite or highly popular blog posts as well as a search function.
As ever, engage in good linking practices as well, with links to other blogs that are relevant to the content you provide, prominently-displayed but not particularly large. Keep it to five or six links you feel are particularly relevant, with a short summary on each.
About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit http://www.iBrandCasting.com/
Read more of Enzo F. Cesario's articles.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Blog Writing Tips - Where to Find Great Guest Posters
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2011 Enzo F. Cesario
One of the best ways to keep a fresh angle in blogging is the guest blogger. They can provide good content, take some of the work load off the primary blogger and can bring new perspectives and ideas that the parent blogger can follow up on in later posts as he or she sees fit. Guest blogging also promotes inter-community relations, resulting in shared links and audiences, and can bring together previously unrelated audiences who find they share interests. It may not be for everyone, but those who embrace guest posting have a lot going for them.
So where, exactly, does one find these mysterious guest posters?
Guest #1 — The Ascended Commenter
An active and successful blog should have an equally active comments section. Comments are a great way to gauge the level of interest a group has in the message of a blog. Sometimes a blog post will spawn a series of comments that end up being as or even more enriching than the blog itself, including links to other sites and videos that further expand on the message.
Some commenters are active, regular members of the community and consistently provide very good and insightful material on a number of topics. Those who participate in all the best discussions and are always there to provide discussion on the topics raised are a prime source for good guest-posting material.
If you have such a gem of a commenter, contact them and ask them if they'd be interested in writing up a guest post. Give them all the guidelines and style rules your publication uses, and of course draft-check their work to make sure it fits the needs of the site, but definitely recruit your commenters into your service. This will have the two-fold effect of creating guest posts and improving the quality of commentary in the blog as a whole. As guests see they can be invited to post, they will be encouraged to become more active if they want to do the same.
Guest # 2 — Fellow Bloggers
Many blogs provide cross-links to other blogs who discuss the same or similar issues. Blogs on cooking provide links to other blogs on cooking, or to blogs on cookware and appliances, and so on. Bloggers exercising good blogging judgment also go to their colleagues' blogs and participate in the comments sections as well.
Just like inviting in a member of the commentary team, calling in a fellow blogger is a great idea. As mentioned, it encourages cross-promotion of both blogs. Even though the audiences of the publications may not overlap 100 percent, each will at least see some benefit as visitors from the other blog come by to have a look. At least some will subscribe, and that's a big overall goal.
One of the best ways to arrange this is to propose a swap. Both bloggers trade posts for a day, so that both can get the benefit of the exchange. Additionally, try to focus on bloggers with a similar but slightly different focus. The idea is to get new information out there, after all.
Guest #3 — The Celebrity
People like big names; there's really no getting around it and no shame in it. Experts are good at what they do, and good at it for a reason. If our aforementioned cooking blog is able to get an authority figure with a big name in the community to post, they really should take advantage of the opportunity.
Celebrities are often hard to get ahold of, but not impossible. They are people, too, and they often have interests that they like to follow. Sometimes it requires contacting their agent or handler, but it can be rewarding to a blog to have a star pop on and offer some advice on the topic at hand.
On the other hand, such a post should stick firmly to the message at hand. Making it a chance for the celeb to simply promote his new cause or book might distract from the goal of the blog, and nobody wants that.
Guest #4 — A Polite Opponent
There is a benefit in bringing aboard someone whose views differ from those of the core audience for the blog. The most important mode of discussion for the web today is dialog. People want to talk, they want to learn and be heard. Unfortunately, the largest mode of dialog is argument and flaming, and very little gets accomplished in this circumstance.
On the other hand, if a blog has taken a principled and reasonable stand on a topic, chances are they have an open-minded yet critical commenter or "rival" whose views differ from their own. This is common in philosophy- and politics-oriented publications.
In these cases, consider contacting a rival and asking for an exchange of views. This may seem a bit odd, but it really can make all the difference. It will show both parties that the other side is willing to talk and reason about things. It will give both audiences a sense of pride in their chosen blogger. It will create a greater dialog and benefit the web as a whole and, if handled properly, it will almost always be a hit and generate a great deal of discussion. Take the risk and see if a civil exchange of conflicting ideas is right for your blog.
About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit http://www.iBrandCasting.com/
Copyright © 2011 Enzo F. Cesario
One of the best ways to keep a fresh angle in blogging is the guest blogger. They can provide good content, take some of the work load off the primary blogger and can bring new perspectives and ideas that the parent blogger can follow up on in later posts as he or she sees fit. Guest blogging also promotes inter-community relations, resulting in shared links and audiences, and can bring together previously unrelated audiences who find they share interests. It may not be for everyone, but those who embrace guest posting have a lot going for them.
So where, exactly, does one find these mysterious guest posters?
Guest #1 — The Ascended Commenter
An active and successful blog should have an equally active comments section. Comments are a great way to gauge the level of interest a group has in the message of a blog. Sometimes a blog post will spawn a series of comments that end up being as or even more enriching than the blog itself, including links to other sites and videos that further expand on the message.
Some commenters are active, regular members of the community and consistently provide very good and insightful material on a number of topics. Those who participate in all the best discussions and are always there to provide discussion on the topics raised are a prime source for good guest-posting material.
If you have such a gem of a commenter, contact them and ask them if they'd be interested in writing up a guest post. Give them all the guidelines and style rules your publication uses, and of course draft-check their work to make sure it fits the needs of the site, but definitely recruit your commenters into your service. This will have the two-fold effect of creating guest posts and improving the quality of commentary in the blog as a whole. As guests see they can be invited to post, they will be encouraged to become more active if they want to do the same.
Guest # 2 — Fellow Bloggers
Many blogs provide cross-links to other blogs who discuss the same or similar issues. Blogs on cooking provide links to other blogs on cooking, or to blogs on cookware and appliances, and so on. Bloggers exercising good blogging judgment also go to their colleagues' blogs and participate in the comments sections as well.
Just like inviting in a member of the commentary team, calling in a fellow blogger is a great idea. As mentioned, it encourages cross-promotion of both blogs. Even though the audiences of the publications may not overlap 100 percent, each will at least see some benefit as visitors from the other blog come by to have a look. At least some will subscribe, and that's a big overall goal.
One of the best ways to arrange this is to propose a swap. Both bloggers trade posts for a day, so that both can get the benefit of the exchange. Additionally, try to focus on bloggers with a similar but slightly different focus. The idea is to get new information out there, after all.
Guest #3 — The Celebrity
People like big names; there's really no getting around it and no shame in it. Experts are good at what they do, and good at it for a reason. If our aforementioned cooking blog is able to get an authority figure with a big name in the community to post, they really should take advantage of the opportunity.
Celebrities are often hard to get ahold of, but not impossible. They are people, too, and they often have interests that they like to follow. Sometimes it requires contacting their agent or handler, but it can be rewarding to a blog to have a star pop on and offer some advice on the topic at hand.
On the other hand, such a post should stick firmly to the message at hand. Making it a chance for the celeb to simply promote his new cause or book might distract from the goal of the blog, and nobody wants that.
Guest #4 — A Polite Opponent
There is a benefit in bringing aboard someone whose views differ from those of the core audience for the blog. The most important mode of discussion for the web today is dialog. People want to talk, they want to learn and be heard. Unfortunately, the largest mode of dialog is argument and flaming, and very little gets accomplished in this circumstance.
On the other hand, if a blog has taken a principled and reasonable stand on a topic, chances are they have an open-minded yet critical commenter or "rival" whose views differ from their own. This is common in philosophy- and politics-oriented publications.
In these cases, consider contacting a rival and asking for an exchange of views. This may seem a bit odd, but it really can make all the difference. It will show both parties that the other side is willing to talk and reason about things. It will give both audiences a sense of pride in their chosen blogger. It will create a greater dialog and benefit the web as a whole and, if handled properly, it will almost always be a hit and generate a great deal of discussion. Take the risk and see if a civil exchange of conflicting ideas is right for your blog.
About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit http://www.iBrandCasting.com/
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
A Hard Look at PPC, Click Fraud and the Alternatives
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2006-2011 Bill Platt
With the creation of the Overture and Google Adwords systems, many webmasters believed they had finally hit the mother lode. It was no longer necessary for small online businesses to invest large amounts of money into Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services to gain high search rankings in the natural search results.
Even webmasters committed to SEO campaigns began to realize its fleeting nature. Given frequent search engine algorithm changes, optimizing a website was no guarantee that in 6 months or less it wouldn't be back to square one and page twenty of the search results.
PAY-PER-CLICK SEARCH ENGINE (PPCSE) PLACEMENT
With the advent of the PPCSE model created by Overture, and followed by Google Adwords, webmasters felt like they had finally found the level playing field that everyone talks about. Hiring a SEO company was no longer necessary to crack the top search engine results. A Page One placement could be purchased and often for far less than the cost of a SEO company's services.
Webmasters discovered that they could get traffic to their website for as little as one cent per click.
Pay-per-click, however, has evolved over the last 5 years and not to the benefit of most webmasters. Although five cents is currently the average starting bid price at most major search engines, many sought after keyword terms can cost as much as $30 - $50 per click. Given the increasingly competitive nature of PPC advertising and spiraling costs, many small- to medium- sized businesses today might be better served hiring a good SEO company to search optimize their websites.
WHO IS CLICKING YOUR PAY-PER-CLICK LINKS?
There are four types of people who click on pay-per-click ads. Knowing who these people are helps explain why experts keep telling us that 20% to 25% of all clicks on PPC listings are "fraudulent clicks".
Personality Type #1: True-Blue Prospects
These are the people for whom you have placed your pay-per-click ads. They see your advertisement; they like what they see; and they click your link to see if you can actually serve their needs.
Personality Type #2: Accidental Clickers
Every once in a while, even my finger misfires, and I click an advertisement that I did not intend on clicking. My first thought is usually, "Oh no...", and my first action is to find the back button.
I didn't mean to cost that person money by clicking his advertisement... but I did. It was an accident. Now, the advertiser has to pay for my mistake. That bites.
Personality Type #3: Jealous Competitors
I would like to think that all of my, and your, competitors are fine, upstanding people. And most of them are. But, there are some who are not, and they click on pay-per-click links just to be spiteful or just to cost their business rivals a few dollars.
Believe it or not, a good percentage of "fraudulent clicks" are believed to be clicks perpetrated by people against their competitors.
Personality Type #4: True-Blue Fraudsters
Not that long ago pay-per-click providers realized that there was tremendous opportunity in offering small website owners a method for cashing in on their limited traffic.
Today, a webmaster can go to any number of pay-per-click services, add a small piece of code to a webpage and start serving paid advertising the same day. Webmasters thus become revenue share partners with the PPC provider, splitting revenues with the PPC provider for each click.
Ethical webmasters, of course, put the needs of their advertisers first and focus on putting eyeballs on their website so that visitors can click on the advertising links.
But, the word "ethical" doesn't exist in the vocabulary of some webmasters. These are the "true-blue fraudsters" who believe in making "revenue at any cost... no matter who might be hurt by their actions." They devise schemes to have their own ads clicked in order to drive up their revenue share.
These webmasters, although a minority, are responsible for the vast majority of fraudulent clicks. And, they are the same people that should be taken out behind the barn, for a good old-fashioned flogging --- one lashing for each stolen dollar would be fine with me.
THE UNSEEN COSTS OF THE PAY-PER-CLICK SEARCH GAME
If the experts are correct in estimating that 25% of all clicks are fraudulent, then you are paying out 33% more than you should have to pay to get your business.
If you are converting PPCSE clicks-to-sales at a rate of $20 per transaction, then you should be aware that your actual conversion rate for non-PPCSE advertising would cost you an average of $15 per transaction. By escaping the pay-per-click search engine model, you could in effect make an additional $5 per transaction by cutting the fraud out of your marketing budget.
Personally, I would rather not pay the pay-per-click mafia the $5 a transaction that they are exacting against pay-per-click advertisers.
WHERE MY ADVERTISING MONEY WORKS BEST
I have always gained the best bang for my buck with pay-for-placement advertising. In a nutshell, I pay a monthly, quarterly or yearly fee to have my advertising seen on various websites. Banner advertising is always an option, but text links provide better click-through rates (CTR's).
At any one time, you can find links to my websites on dozens of other websites.
Here are a few examples of pay-for-placement, often referred to as "paid inclusion", advertising networks:
ISEDN.org Network:
( http://www.ISEDN.org )
The Independent Search Engine and Directory Network (powered by ExactSeek.com) is comprised of more than 200 specialty search engines, search directories and article directories. Through their system, you can buy quarterly or yearly top ten exposure (http://www.exactseek.com/featured_listings.html) for specific keyword phrases which are then shown through the ISEDN's 200 plus member websites. Their network claims to show paid inclusion ads 150 million times per month.
Pricing starts at $4 per month per keyword phrase and goes down according to the number of keyword phrases purchased. Quarterly and yearly rates for one keyword phrase are $12 and $36, respectively.
AdBrite Advertising provides access to a large network of independent publishers who are willing to let you advertise on their websites: http://www.adbrite.com/
BraveNet Media Network is the number one provider of free web tools in the world ( http://www.bravenetmedianetwork.com/ ), their network serves over 500 million page views per month.
WHO LEFT THE BARN DOOR OPEN?
We put locks and deadbolts on our doors. In some localities, we put bars on our windows. We keep our valuables in safes. We keep our cars locked when we are not in them. We are a nation obsessed with protecting our valuables.
And yet, when we advertise our online businesses, we seem to be willing to let PPCSE providers steal 25% of our advertising budget? It boggles the mind.
Personally, I am done with PPCSE companies until they can assure me that my advertising dollars are protected from click fraud.
I have always relied on my own search engine optimization skills to strengthen my natural search results. And frankly, I am pretty good at it.
And, to supplement my own SEO efforts and organic search result placement successes, or lack thereof, paid inclusion currently offers me the best value for my money.
About the Author:
If you want to learn how to make article marketing effective and profitable for the promotion of your online business, you will be able to locate several article marketing training guides at http://WritingPuzzle.com/ If you are looking for an article syndication service company to help you promote your online articles, explore http://thephantomwriters.com/ which has been providing article marketing services since 2001. Bill Platt is the owner of both of these web properties.
Follow Bill Platt on Twitter.
Copyright © 2006-2011 Bill Platt
With the creation of the Overture and Google Adwords systems, many webmasters believed they had finally hit the mother lode. It was no longer necessary for small online businesses to invest large amounts of money into Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services to gain high search rankings in the natural search results.
Even webmasters committed to SEO campaigns began to realize its fleeting nature. Given frequent search engine algorithm changes, optimizing a website was no guarantee that in 6 months or less it wouldn't be back to square one and page twenty of the search results.
PAY-PER-CLICK SEARCH ENGINE (PPCSE) PLACEMENT
With the advent of the PPCSE model created by Overture, and followed by Google Adwords, webmasters felt like they had finally found the level playing field that everyone talks about. Hiring a SEO company was no longer necessary to crack the top search engine results. A Page One placement could be purchased and often for far less than the cost of a SEO company's services.
Webmasters discovered that they could get traffic to their website for as little as one cent per click.
Pay-per-click, however, has evolved over the last 5 years and not to the benefit of most webmasters. Although five cents is currently the average starting bid price at most major search engines, many sought after keyword terms can cost as much as $30 - $50 per click. Given the increasingly competitive nature of PPC advertising and spiraling costs, many small- to medium- sized businesses today might be better served hiring a good SEO company to search optimize their websites.
WHO IS CLICKING YOUR PAY-PER-CLICK LINKS?
There are four types of people who click on pay-per-click ads. Knowing who these people are helps explain why experts keep telling us that 20% to 25% of all clicks on PPC listings are "fraudulent clicks".
Personality Type #1: True-Blue Prospects
These are the people for whom you have placed your pay-per-click ads. They see your advertisement; they like what they see; and they click your link to see if you can actually serve their needs.
Personality Type #2: Accidental Clickers
Every once in a while, even my finger misfires, and I click an advertisement that I did not intend on clicking. My first thought is usually, "Oh no...", and my first action is to find the back button.
I didn't mean to cost that person money by clicking his advertisement... but I did. It was an accident. Now, the advertiser has to pay for my mistake. That bites.
Personality Type #3: Jealous Competitors
I would like to think that all of my, and your, competitors are fine, upstanding people. And most of them are. But, there are some who are not, and they click on pay-per-click links just to be spiteful or just to cost their business rivals a few dollars.
Believe it or not, a good percentage of "fraudulent clicks" are believed to be clicks perpetrated by people against their competitors.
Personality Type #4: True-Blue Fraudsters
Not that long ago pay-per-click providers realized that there was tremendous opportunity in offering small website owners a method for cashing in on their limited traffic.
Today, a webmaster can go to any number of pay-per-click services, add a small piece of code to a webpage and start serving paid advertising the same day. Webmasters thus become revenue share partners with the PPC provider, splitting revenues with the PPC provider for each click.
Ethical webmasters, of course, put the needs of their advertisers first and focus on putting eyeballs on their website so that visitors can click on the advertising links.
But, the word "ethical" doesn't exist in the vocabulary of some webmasters. These are the "true-blue fraudsters" who believe in making "revenue at any cost... no matter who might be hurt by their actions." They devise schemes to have their own ads clicked in order to drive up their revenue share.
These webmasters, although a minority, are responsible for the vast majority of fraudulent clicks. And, they are the same people that should be taken out behind the barn, for a good old-fashioned flogging --- one lashing for each stolen dollar would be fine with me.
THE UNSEEN COSTS OF THE PAY-PER-CLICK SEARCH GAME
If the experts are correct in estimating that 25% of all clicks are fraudulent, then you are paying out 33% more than you should have to pay to get your business.
If you are converting PPCSE clicks-to-sales at a rate of $20 per transaction, then you should be aware that your actual conversion rate for non-PPCSE advertising would cost you an average of $15 per transaction. By escaping the pay-per-click search engine model, you could in effect make an additional $5 per transaction by cutting the fraud out of your marketing budget.
Personally, I would rather not pay the pay-per-click mafia the $5 a transaction that they are exacting against pay-per-click advertisers.
WHERE MY ADVERTISING MONEY WORKS BEST
I have always gained the best bang for my buck with pay-for-placement advertising. In a nutshell, I pay a monthly, quarterly or yearly fee to have my advertising seen on various websites. Banner advertising is always an option, but text links provide better click-through rates (CTR's).
At any one time, you can find links to my websites on dozens of other websites.
Here are a few examples of pay-for-placement, often referred to as "paid inclusion", advertising networks:
ISEDN.org Network:
( http://www.ISEDN.org )
The Independent Search Engine and Directory Network (powered by ExactSeek.com) is comprised of more than 200 specialty search engines, search directories and article directories. Through their system, you can buy quarterly or yearly top ten exposure (http://www.exactseek.com/featured_listings.html) for specific keyword phrases which are then shown through the ISEDN's 200 plus member websites. Their network claims to show paid inclusion ads 150 million times per month.
Pricing starts at $4 per month per keyword phrase and goes down according to the number of keyword phrases purchased. Quarterly and yearly rates for one keyword phrase are $12 and $36, respectively.
AdBrite Advertising provides access to a large network of independent publishers who are willing to let you advertise on their websites: http://www.adbrite.com/
BraveNet Media Network is the number one provider of free web tools in the world ( http://www.bravenetmedianetwork.com/ ), their network serves over 500 million page views per month.
WHO LEFT THE BARN DOOR OPEN?
We put locks and deadbolts on our doors. In some localities, we put bars on our windows. We keep our valuables in safes. We keep our cars locked when we are not in them. We are a nation obsessed with protecting our valuables.
And yet, when we advertise our online businesses, we seem to be willing to let PPCSE providers steal 25% of our advertising budget? It boggles the mind.
Personally, I am done with PPCSE companies until they can assure me that my advertising dollars are protected from click fraud.
I have always relied on my own search engine optimization skills to strengthen my natural search results. And frankly, I am pretty good at it.
And, to supplement my own SEO efforts and organic search result placement successes, or lack thereof, paid inclusion currently offers me the best value for my money.
About the Author:
If you want to learn how to make article marketing effective and profitable for the promotion of your online business, you will be able to locate several article marketing training guides at http://WritingPuzzle.com/ If you are looking for an article syndication service company to help you promote your online articles, explore http://thephantomwriters.com/ which has been providing article marketing services since 2001. Bill Platt is the owner of both of these web properties.
Follow Bill Platt on Twitter.
Making Corporate Blogging Credible
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2011 Enzo F. Cesario
Most blogs are personal. Blogging's beginnings are closely associated with personal sites such as livejournal. Thus, blogs have tended to center around a single personality, and that person's emphases and interests. But as more and more people come to understand the power of a blog for leveraging client interest, that trend is changing. Corporations in particular now are taking part in the blogging scene, given that in many cases companies with blogs tend to attract half again as much traffic as sites without them.
Still, there is a sense of cynicism about corporations in the world. The greedy advertisers, the soulless profiteers — these images tend to stick with people even when they aren't necessarily appropriate. Corporate blogs need to stop catering to this mindset, as well. Blogging is about communication. It is a dynamic medium. (That's why blogging software comes with a comments function.) Yet so many corporations just use it as another type of newsletter or circular, not really taking advantage of the chance to break out and take advantage of the blogging ethos the way it was intended. So what are some ways a corporation can make its blog more credible?
First, Do No Advertising
Specifically, a blog should avoid the trap of trying to directly market things. Announcements must be limited to the main site, and advertisements are for the marketing department. The blog is about communication with the readers — readers who are tired of constantly being marketed to. Keep the direct marketing out of the blog.
This isn't to say you must be silent about big projects. If your company gets a hot new app or is able to offer a really big new consumer service, it would make no sense to go utterly quiet about it. However, a blog is a tool for commentary as much as it is a presentation. Provide analysis, not advertisements. Explain a specific thing you find worthwhile about the new tool rather than regurgitating promotional materials. Share a story about last year's corporate retreat and the effect it had. As a rule of thumb, give your readers something to discuss rather than something that reads like an announcement.
Stay on Message
Personal blogs can sometimes get away with scattered topics, but a corporate blog needs to establish some editorial guidelines. People come to a corporate blog for messages and discussion about the products and services the corporation is providing. A computer programming blog shouldn't diverge too far afield, and a blog focusing on luxury lifestyles should always have content about high-class homes and parties.
Be Personal
This might seem like it clashes with the previous point, but in reality the two work together quite well. Once you have a message to stay on topic about, then you can focus on developing a distinct personality within that message. This is a large part of developing the conversation with your readers, for a number of reasons.
Let's take our luxury lifestyles blog. We'll assume it has two regular contributors and one monthly correspondent. The content is very clearly defined; contributors Allan and Becca must consistently talk about fine living from the perspective of luxury homes, and the correspondent covers social events. Within these guidelines, however, is room aplenty for specialization. Allan might have a passion for kitchen design and the ways it can make fine living so enjoyable, while Becca could have an abiding interest in architectural layout and the way it affects people's quality of life. The social events writer probably has a passion as well, like a desire to focus on parties more than fundraisers. These areas of specialty allow them to let their own personalities shine through while still adhering to the editorial mandate of the blog.
Prepare to Talk
As mentioned repeatedly, blogging is about eliciting commentary, and this will include comments of every stripe. You'll receive enthusiastic praise, well-reasoned criticism, insightful asides and more than your fair share of trolls, spam bots and the like.
This is why it is important to make an actual policy for comments that will be published on your blog. Having a policy in place ahead of time is a good way to avoid the criticisms and missteps that often plague bloggers unused to the, shall we say, frank commentary that the web can provide.
The best default is toward free speech. Allow people to comment mostly freely, within some clearly defined guidelines. Patent "trolling," such as posts that say genuinely hateful or bigoted things or are intended simply to start an argument can be safely moderated away. However, allow people to post disagreements and disputes, and make it a point to respond directly to these. In fact, give disputes higher priority for comment, since responding to your detractors politely and clearly can give you a measure of credibility that simply sharing information with your admirers will not. That said, do not neglect your fan base either — show them you care about their interests by responding to their thoughts, as well.
Some Final Thoughts
Blogging is not a science — it is much more of an art. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not, and all too often it goes off into strange places we weren't prepared for. Give some thought to this, and accept that a little oddness is the price of working on the web. Be willing to relax and let your personality shine through, and you should be fine.
About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit http://www.iBrandCasting.com/
Copyright © 2011 Enzo F. Cesario
Most blogs are personal. Blogging's beginnings are closely associated with personal sites such as livejournal. Thus, blogs have tended to center around a single personality, and that person's emphases and interests. But as more and more people come to understand the power of a blog for leveraging client interest, that trend is changing. Corporations in particular now are taking part in the blogging scene, given that in many cases companies with blogs tend to attract half again as much traffic as sites without them.
Still, there is a sense of cynicism about corporations in the world. The greedy advertisers, the soulless profiteers — these images tend to stick with people even when they aren't necessarily appropriate. Corporate blogs need to stop catering to this mindset, as well. Blogging is about communication. It is a dynamic medium. (That's why blogging software comes with a comments function.) Yet so many corporations just use it as another type of newsletter or circular, not really taking advantage of the chance to break out and take advantage of the blogging ethos the way it was intended. So what are some ways a corporation can make its blog more credible?
First, Do No Advertising
Specifically, a blog should avoid the trap of trying to directly market things. Announcements must be limited to the main site, and advertisements are for the marketing department. The blog is about communication with the readers — readers who are tired of constantly being marketed to. Keep the direct marketing out of the blog.
This isn't to say you must be silent about big projects. If your company gets a hot new app or is able to offer a really big new consumer service, it would make no sense to go utterly quiet about it. However, a blog is a tool for commentary as much as it is a presentation. Provide analysis, not advertisements. Explain a specific thing you find worthwhile about the new tool rather than regurgitating promotional materials. Share a story about last year's corporate retreat and the effect it had. As a rule of thumb, give your readers something to discuss rather than something that reads like an announcement.
Stay on Message
Personal blogs can sometimes get away with scattered topics, but a corporate blog needs to establish some editorial guidelines. People come to a corporate blog for messages and discussion about the products and services the corporation is providing. A computer programming blog shouldn't diverge too far afield, and a blog focusing on luxury lifestyles should always have content about high-class homes and parties.
Be Personal
This might seem like it clashes with the previous point, but in reality the two work together quite well. Once you have a message to stay on topic about, then you can focus on developing a distinct personality within that message. This is a large part of developing the conversation with your readers, for a number of reasons.
Let's take our luxury lifestyles blog. We'll assume it has two regular contributors and one monthly correspondent. The content is very clearly defined; contributors Allan and Becca must consistently talk about fine living from the perspective of luxury homes, and the correspondent covers social events. Within these guidelines, however, is room aplenty for specialization. Allan might have a passion for kitchen design and the ways it can make fine living so enjoyable, while Becca could have an abiding interest in architectural layout and the way it affects people's quality of life. The social events writer probably has a passion as well, like a desire to focus on parties more than fundraisers. These areas of specialty allow them to let their own personalities shine through while still adhering to the editorial mandate of the blog.
Prepare to Talk
As mentioned repeatedly, blogging is about eliciting commentary, and this will include comments of every stripe. You'll receive enthusiastic praise, well-reasoned criticism, insightful asides and more than your fair share of trolls, spam bots and the like.
This is why it is important to make an actual policy for comments that will be published on your blog. Having a policy in place ahead of time is a good way to avoid the criticisms and missteps that often plague bloggers unused to the, shall we say, frank commentary that the web can provide.
The best default is toward free speech. Allow people to comment mostly freely, within some clearly defined guidelines. Patent "trolling," such as posts that say genuinely hateful or bigoted things or are intended simply to start an argument can be safely moderated away. However, allow people to post disagreements and disputes, and make it a point to respond directly to these. In fact, give disputes higher priority for comment, since responding to your detractors politely and clearly can give you a measure of credibility that simply sharing information with your admirers will not. That said, do not neglect your fan base either — show them you care about their interests by responding to their thoughts, as well.
Some Final Thoughts
Blogging is not a science — it is much more of an art. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not, and all too often it goes off into strange places we weren't prepared for. Give some thought to this, and accept that a little oddness is the price of working on the web. Be willing to relax and let your personality shine through, and you should be fine.
About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit http://www.iBrandCasting.com/
Monday, August 22, 2011
Blog Writing Tips: Keeping Content Fresh
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2011 Enzo F. Cesario
Content may be king, but to torture a metaphor somewhat, even the most brilliant crown can grow tarnished. Generating good content isn't always an easy thing, and it requires a great deal of effort to avoid getting into rote postings and halfhearted content that isn't of the quality a blog and its audience deserve.
A lot already has been written about the common mistakes bloggers can make. Text walls, keyword cipher content, bland posts on stuff that's been covered before — these things are not good. But simply pointing out what not to do isn't very helpful. After all, anyone can "not do" certain things. But as any fiction writer worth the name will say, listing and focusing on all the things one isn't going to do results in one not doing anything at all. There has to be a positive focus and some manner of a goal. To that end, what are some of the things bloggers can do to keep their content fresh and interesting?
Step 1 — Alternate Angles
Keeping content interesting doesn't necessarily always involve doing something completely and utterly unrelated. It can, instead, involve taking a new approach to the tried-and-true material at hand, and coming at it from a new direction that brings together previous posts in a different way.
For example, consider a blog focused on consumer advocacy and customers' rights. The main focus of the blog could be on specific instances of consumer abuse, such as dangerous products or other examples of corporate irresponsibility. This is an example of a highly-specialized blog with a narrow intent.
However, posting all the time about corporate abuses might get disheartening — both to the writer and the reader — so the blogger should try introducing a post series on corporate hijinks that are more hilarious than harmful. A practical example of this is the Cake Wrecks blog; while the main content is specifically focused on truly terrible cake designs, the blog also features a "Sunday Sweets" post series focusing on cakes done particularly well.
Step 2 — Fresh Faces
There is a lot of debate in the blogging community about the value of guest posters. Without going into all the assorted arguments, the fact is that if a blogger trusts someone enough to let them submit a post for publication, it can be a valuable tool for a number of reasons.
Guest posters offer several opportunities for the experienced blogger. They can establish networking options between the audiences of the respective writers, particularly if drawn between blogs. If drawn from the comments section, they can give the blog audience something to aspire to and more reason to become active with the blog. In the special event that a blogger can get a big name in the field to write a post, the credibility and prestige of the blog generally benefits as well.
Step 3 — Cause Crusades
Many of the more successful blogs touch on some manner of major social issues. Consumer advocacy, personal rights, political freedoms — each of these topics is the subject of major discourse in the world at large. Many people in a blogger's audience probably want to do something to help out with a cause, but they aren't sure how. They might not know how to check out a nonprofit's credentials the way a savvy fundraising blogger might, or might not know specific organizations related to their personal cause of choice.
Blogs are a great force in the field of micro-transaction fundraising. If a blog has even 5,000 followers and can convince them to donate 50 cents apiece on average, that translates to $2,500 in real dollars raised. That money can pay for quite a few things, be it advertising space, medical procedures or even a research grant for a small lab doing vital inquiry. As an example, consider the success of Penny Arcade, which leveraged its extensive comic and blog audience's goodwill to create a charity dedicated to giving sick children as many games and reading materials as they could. It's one of the fastest growing charities in history, and started as "just an idea."
Step 4 — Evading Ennui
Sometimes there isn't any way to get around the fact that a specific topic is played out. Be it the activities of a certain politician, a specific corporate scandal or even a general topic such as free speech, people eventually get tired of writing and reading the same material. Sometimes no new news stories come up, or there isn't any fresh information to cover.
In such cases, it's perfectly acceptable to switch topics. Perhaps the topic change need not be exceptionally drastic. Consider the earlier example of a consumer advocacy blog. Perhaps there simply are no new or funny stories to cover that won't seem boring or rehashed. This might be the time to discuss the theory of the blog, the "why" angle behind the matter. Our blogger could write a post explaining his or her personal experiences with corporate indifference, or discuss the good that consumer advocacy has done for people in the past.
Other times, the change could be as drastic as can be. Maybe a blogger just enjoys a particular band or bit of music, and writes an entirely personal post sharing the music and how they came to love it. The readers get a personal connection, and the blogger can let his mind work on the big problems again.
About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit our blog at http://www.iBrandCasting.com/
Read more of Enzo F. Cesario's articles.
Copyright © 2011 Enzo F. Cesario
Content may be king, but to torture a metaphor somewhat, even the most brilliant crown can grow tarnished. Generating good content isn't always an easy thing, and it requires a great deal of effort to avoid getting into rote postings and halfhearted content that isn't of the quality a blog and its audience deserve.
A lot already has been written about the common mistakes bloggers can make. Text walls, keyword cipher content, bland posts on stuff that's been covered before — these things are not good. But simply pointing out what not to do isn't very helpful. After all, anyone can "not do" certain things. But as any fiction writer worth the name will say, listing and focusing on all the things one isn't going to do results in one not doing anything at all. There has to be a positive focus and some manner of a goal. To that end, what are some of the things bloggers can do to keep their content fresh and interesting?
Step 1 — Alternate Angles
Keeping content interesting doesn't necessarily always involve doing something completely and utterly unrelated. It can, instead, involve taking a new approach to the tried-and-true material at hand, and coming at it from a new direction that brings together previous posts in a different way.
For example, consider a blog focused on consumer advocacy and customers' rights. The main focus of the blog could be on specific instances of consumer abuse, such as dangerous products or other examples of corporate irresponsibility. This is an example of a highly-specialized blog with a narrow intent.
However, posting all the time about corporate abuses might get disheartening — both to the writer and the reader — so the blogger should try introducing a post series on corporate hijinks that are more hilarious than harmful. A practical example of this is the Cake Wrecks blog; while the main content is specifically focused on truly terrible cake designs, the blog also features a "Sunday Sweets" post series focusing on cakes done particularly well.
Step 2 — Fresh Faces
There is a lot of debate in the blogging community about the value of guest posters. Without going into all the assorted arguments, the fact is that if a blogger trusts someone enough to let them submit a post for publication, it can be a valuable tool for a number of reasons.
Guest posters offer several opportunities for the experienced blogger. They can establish networking options between the audiences of the respective writers, particularly if drawn between blogs. If drawn from the comments section, they can give the blog audience something to aspire to and more reason to become active with the blog. In the special event that a blogger can get a big name in the field to write a post, the credibility and prestige of the blog generally benefits as well.
Step 3 — Cause Crusades
Many of the more successful blogs touch on some manner of major social issues. Consumer advocacy, personal rights, political freedoms — each of these topics is the subject of major discourse in the world at large. Many people in a blogger's audience probably want to do something to help out with a cause, but they aren't sure how. They might not know how to check out a nonprofit's credentials the way a savvy fundraising blogger might, or might not know specific organizations related to their personal cause of choice.
Blogs are a great force in the field of micro-transaction fundraising. If a blog has even 5,000 followers and can convince them to donate 50 cents apiece on average, that translates to $2,500 in real dollars raised. That money can pay for quite a few things, be it advertising space, medical procedures or even a research grant for a small lab doing vital inquiry. As an example, consider the success of Penny Arcade, which leveraged its extensive comic and blog audience's goodwill to create a charity dedicated to giving sick children as many games and reading materials as they could. It's one of the fastest growing charities in history, and started as "just an idea."
Step 4 — Evading Ennui
Sometimes there isn't any way to get around the fact that a specific topic is played out. Be it the activities of a certain politician, a specific corporate scandal or even a general topic such as free speech, people eventually get tired of writing and reading the same material. Sometimes no new news stories come up, or there isn't any fresh information to cover.
In such cases, it's perfectly acceptable to switch topics. Perhaps the topic change need not be exceptionally drastic. Consider the earlier example of a consumer advocacy blog. Perhaps there simply are no new or funny stories to cover that won't seem boring or rehashed. This might be the time to discuss the theory of the blog, the "why" angle behind the matter. Our blogger could write a post explaining his or her personal experiences with corporate indifference, or discuss the good that consumer advocacy has done for people in the past.
Other times, the change could be as drastic as can be. Maybe a blogger just enjoys a particular band or bit of music, and writes an entirely personal post sharing the music and how they came to love it. The readers get a personal connection, and the blogger can let his mind work on the big problems again.
About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit our blog at http://www.iBrandCasting.com/
Read more of Enzo F. Cesario's articles.
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